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Meteorologist Liberté Chan, donning a black cocktail dress, is handed a grey sweater and the implication is that she should cover up. ‘We’re getting a lot of emails,’ male colleague says.

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KTLA's Liberté Chan was handed a sweater by her co-anchor while giving a weather forecast Saturday.

By Travis AndrewsThe Washington Post

Mon., May 16, 2016

A Los Angeles television station has come under fire after a male anchor handed his female colleague a cardigan so she could cover her bare shoulders.

It happened during the 8 a.m. Saturday broadcast on KLTA, a local station serving the greater Los Angeles area. In it, meteorologist Liberté Chan, donning a black cocktail dress, is offering her report on the day’s weather when she runs into some unexpected on-air turbulence.

Suddenly, mid-broadcast, weekend anchor Chris Burrous’ suit-clad arm appears on the side of the screen. Dangling from it is a grey cardigan, which appears to imply Chan cover up. She seems none too happy about it.

“We’re getting a lot of emails,” comes the male voice, as his hands place the cardigan on Chan.

It happened during the 8 a.m. Saturday broadcast on KLTA, a TV station serving greater Los Angeles. Meteorologist Liberté Chan, sporting a black cocktail dress, is offered a cardigan as she reports on the day’s weather.
(Facebook / The Washington Post)

“What?” Chan shouts. “Really?”

“There you go,” he says. “That’s nice.”

“OK. I look like . . . a librarian,” she says.

The video quickly went viral on social media, and many are calling for an apology from the station.

Chan, though, said there are no hard feelings.

According to a post on Chan’s Twitter feed, her original black-and-white dress “keyed out,” which means it clashed with the green screen. She wrote on her blog that the weather wall turned the dress partially transparent.

That’s how she ended up in a cocktail dress at 8 a.m., a sartorial choice about which she seemed excited.

Some of her viewership didn’t share her excitement.

According to a post on Chan’s personal blog, the station received several emails complaining about her bare shoulders.

Hence the cardigan.

But she says the gesture and her response have been misunderstood.

“For the record, I was not ordered by KTLA to put on the sweater.

“I was simply playing along with my co-anchor’s joke, and, if you’ve ever watched the morning show, you know we poke fun at each other all the time. And, also for the record, there is no controversy at KTLA; my bosses did not order me to put on the cardigan.

“It was a spontaneous moment.”

One viewer took it as a joke, tweeting: “I find @KTLA’s response to #sweatergate refreshing. The sweater was a jab at complainers, and done in good humor.”

Many others responded as if there were great controversy, going so far as to name the event #SweaterGate and sending a barrage of outraged tweets to the station.

One user tweeted:

“Maybe a burqa next time?”

Another tweeted:

Yet another tweeted: “Sexism. Public Shaming. Over what? Arms? What exactly is problematic here?”

Burrous’ response may have been a joke, but the emails the station received about her appearance are anything but.

“Looks like she didn’t make it home from her cocktail party last night,” reads one. “Overall, I like Liberté, but this was a display of very poor judgment,” reads another.

Many of the comments, though, even the supportive ones, continue to focus on her appearance.

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According to a post on Chan’s personal blog, the station received several emails complaining about her bare shoulders.

Hence the cardigan.

But she says the gesture and her response have been misunderstood.

“For the record, I was not ordered by KTLA to put on the sweater.

“I was simply playing along with my co-anchor’s joke, and, if you’ve ever watched the morning show, you know we poke fun at each other all the time. And, also for the record, there is no controversy at KTLA; my bosses did not order me to put on the cardigan.

“It was a spontaneous moment.”

One viewer took it as a joke, tweeting: “I find @KTLA’s response to #sweatergate refreshing. The sweater was a jab at complainers, and done in good humor.”

Many others responded as if there were great controversy, going so far as to name the event #SweaterGate and sending a barrage of outraged tweets to the station.